1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a supply unit ordering system that is capable of placing an order for a supply unit replaceably loaded on an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer or a MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) that is a multifunctional digital machine collectively having the copy and print functions, an image forming apparatus that is preferably used in the supply unit ordering system, a supply unit ordering method, and a supply unit ordering program.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
Such an image forming apparatus mentioned above uses supply units such as toner cartridges and imaging units. Each supply unit contains consumable portions such as toner consumed by operations repeatedly performed to print target data on a sheet or a photoconductive drum gradually deteriorated also due to repeated print operations. Each supply unit is replaced with a new one when its consumable portion runs out or reaches to the end of usefulness.
Some of the supply units used in an image forming apparatus are proper products provided from the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus, and the other supply units are un-proper products provided from what are called third party vendors other than that manufacturer.
Generally, supply units such as toner cartridges provided from third party vendors, have more possibilities of causing quality troubles and mismatch with image forming apparatuses, compared to proper products.
There is a heretofore known art that may work out the case above, and wherein if a un-proper supply unit is loaded on an image forming apparatus, a print operation is immediately prohibited (for example, this is described in Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-195705).
However, supply units of good quality actually have few possibilities of causing a trouble during usage, even if those are un-proper products provided from third party vendors. For example, a supply unit has few possibilities of causing a trouble during usage, if it is provided from a third party vendor which product quality is guaranteed by the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus. Further, it would be advantageous if un-proper supply units provided from third party vendors become freely used, since users have more product choices.
There is another heretofore known art, and wherein: when a supply unit is on a distribution channel after shipment, information about a vendor providing the supply unit and other information are written in a memory loaded thereon; if the supply unit is inserted in an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus reads out the information about the vendor from the memory; and if the image forming apparatus detects that the time for replacing the supply unit is coming near, the information about the vendor is displayed on a display of the image forming apparatus or displayed on a display that is connected to the image forming apparatus. Thus, it is advantageous that users can place an order for a supply unit, easily (for example, this is described in Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-331069).
However, with the art disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-331069, information about only one vendor is written in the memory loaded on the supply unit. Therefore, a user using the image forming apparatus has no other vendor choice to place an order for a supply unit with, and cannot select a preferable one among supply units provided from a plurality of vendors. In other words, it is disadvantageous that users cannot arbitrarily select and purchase a preferable one among un-proper supply unit of good quality.
Further, with the art disclosed in the publication above, once information about a vendor is written in the memory, can never be re-written. Therefore, the latest information of price, availability and etc. of supply units are not always provided to users. In other words, it is disadvantageous that users reluctantly have to place an order for a supply unit based on old information, and thereby suffer from the gap in price, availability and etc.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.